Filing system.



No. 868,835 PATENTED OCT. 22. 19.07.

J. A. BBXBLL. FILING SYSTEM.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 7, 1907.

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PATENTED OCT. 22. 1907.

' J. A. BEXELL.

FILING SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 1907.

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UNITED JOHN A. BEXELL, OF LOGAN, UTAH.

FILING SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1907.

Application filed May 7,1907. Serial No- 372,349.

To all whom it may concern:

B c it known that I, JOHN A. BEXELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Logan, in the county of Cache and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Filing Systems, of which the following is a specii ication.

This invention contemplates, broadly speaking, certain new and useful Improvements in filing systems, for use in preserving for future and ready reference memoranda and data of diversified character, and the invention contemplates particularly improvements in filing systems, using transparent faced pockets for the reception of the data, to that the data or index card relating thereto, may be viewed without withdrawing the data or the card from the pocket.

More specifically, the present invention'relates to that type of transparent faced pockets which forms the subject-matter of my pending application for Letters Patent of the United States, entitled Improvements in transparent faced filing cards, filed on or about May 21., 1906, Serial No. 318,048. In that case, the invention is set forth as an individual card or pocket, particularly adaptml to be filed or held, along with others of like form in cabinets, boxes or other analogous forms of holders, although, as set forth in the specification relating to such application, I have had in view the arrangement of these filing cards or pockets in book form.

The present invention has in view particularly the arrangement of a number of transparent 'filing cards or pockets on. one sheet, the said sheet being arranged with others like it, either in permanent book form or held together by temporary binders to form a book, and the invention consists in certain constructions and arrangements of th e parts which I shall now specifically describe and then point out the novel features in the appended claims.

For a full description of the invention and the merits thereof and also to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction and the means for effecting the result, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view illustrating one embodiment of my invention, three sheets being shown; Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating a modification hereinafter referred to; Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view illustrating one of the pockets, the section being taken just above the line of reinforce; Fig. 4 is a similar view, the section being taken in a lower plane; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view illustrating another modification', Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section through one of the pockets; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another form of book embodying my invention; Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view thereof on the line 88 of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is a horizontal sectional view, the section being taken through one of the pockets; Fig. 10 is a perspective view on a reduced scale of a cabinet in which the in vention may be incorporated; and, Fig. 11 is a detail sectional view on the line l1-1l of Fig. 7.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the filing cards or pockets each of which embodies a front 2 and back 3, the front 2 being composed of paraffined tissue paper, preferably, or celluloid, or similar transparent substance, and secured in any way as by overlapping its edges and gluing it to the back 3. The back may be composed of the same material as the face or front portion 2, but preferablyis composed of pressed board or cardboard, as indicated in the drawings the material of the back being preferably of such nature that it has some degree of resiliency, so that when bent it will tend to return to its normal flat condition. The upper edge of the front or face 2 (which forms a pocket with the back 3) may be reinforced by a, strip 4 glued or otherwise secured thereto, so as to prevent the upper edge from tearing when the device is handled, and so far as these main parts are concerned, the said cards may be constructed in any of the forms described in my application above named.

In the present instance, in addition to the foregoing features, each of the cards or pockets 1 is formed with a tab 5 which may be an integral extension of the reinforcing strip 4, so that the pocket may be opened by drawing outward upon the tab. Also, in addition to said features that are embodied in the other application, the present invention contemplates as a detail feature, a thin wire or similar spring device 6, which is fastened in any desired manner to the back portion 3, so as to increase the resiliency of the card.

Above these detail features, the present invention primarily comprehends the attachment of a series of these pockets to a sheet or leaf, so that they may be arranged in book form, and to this end, I secure any desired number of the pockets and in any desired arrangement to a sheet or leaf 7, by applying a strip 8 of adhesive material to the middle portion of the back 3 through the length thereof and by this means cause I the adhesion of the middle portion of the back to the sheet 7, while the remaining portions bounding this adhesive strip are free from attachment to the said sheet or leaf. By these means, it is obvious that the pocket can freely expand or fold on the sheet without buckling or bending the sheet itself, and this would not be the case manifestly, were a number of the cards or pockets to be glued or otherwise secured throughout the entire expanse of their backs to the leaf which supports them.

It is obvious that the transparent filing cards or pockets 1 may be secured in this manner to different forms of sheets. For instance, the sheet 7 may be composed of two sections 9 and 10 hinged together by means of a flexible strip 11 of cloth or leather, or similar material, the pockets being secured to the section 9 While the section 10 which is in the nature of a stub section or retaining section, is formed with holes 12 for the reception of temporary binders of any character, or with bayonet slots 12 for the same purpose. Or if desired, the sheets may be secured together at one edge in pairs and be recessed at their attached ends as indicated at 13, so that they may be bound into book form by means of any of the temporary binders described and claimed in my Letters Patent of the United States, No. 842,751, dated January 29, 1907.

In the preferred proportion of the parts the back 3 projects above the face 2, so that the upper left hand corner or the entire projecting portion of the back may be used as a sub-index for the matter within the pock ets or on the indexing card thereof, and the sheets themselves are also preferably indexed, as illustrated in the drawings.

In these forms of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, it will be noted that the leaves or sheets 7 are connected together at their lower edges. This embodiment of the invention provides a book of a form peculiarly adapted to the cabinet 14 illustrated in Fig. 10, wherein the hinged cover 15 forms a support or ledge so that the leaves or sheets may be turned down or towards the operator, one after the other, until the proper sheet has been found. It is, of course, to be understood that these sheets or leaves 7 may be bound together at their lower edges, either as illustrated in Fig. 1, 2 or 5, or by any suitable binding means.

Referring now to Figs. 7, S and 11, it will be seen that my invention also comprehends a book in which the leaves 7 open horizontally. These leaves are bound together at one edge preferably by means of inner and outer longitudinally extending strips 16 of canvas or the like, which are doubled upon themselves, as best seen in Fig. 7 and which receive between them the two leaves 7. Interposed between the inner and outer strips 16 at the ends or corners of the book, are reinforcing strips 17 and staples 18, or other fastening means are inserted through these binding strips 16 and corner reinforcing strips 17, the staples being clenched, as clearly illustrated in the drawings. This construction is clearly illustrated in Fig. 11 and is shown in dotted lines at the upper end of Fig. 7. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the pockets, there designated 2, are provided with the top reinforcing strips similar to the reinforced strips 4 with the exception of the tabs thereof. It will also be noted that these pockets on the same sheet are overlapped, that is, the upper edge of the lower pockets extends above the lower edge of the upper pocket, such lower edge being indicated in Fig. 7 by the dotted line 19. In other respects, these pockets are substantially like the pockets above described.

In Figs. 1 and 2, at the top of the respective sheets or pages, will be seen numerals and letters in indexing spaces. These are merely applied by way of example, to indicate how one page may be distinguished from the other, according to the subject matter in the pockets thereof.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A device of the character described, consisting of a sheet or leaf, and a filing card or pocket, embodying face and back portions secured together, at their edges, the back portion adhering to the said sheet at its middle portion only, the side portions of said back being free from adjustment to the sheet A device of the character described, consisting of a sheet, and a filing pocket, said filing pocket embodying a transparent face portion and a resilient back portion secured together along their edges, the back portion being secured, throughout its length at its middle portion only to the sheet, the side portions of the back being free from adjustment to the sheet, whereby the pocket may be opened by springing the side portions forward without flexing the sheet.

3. A device of the character described, consisting of a filing card, embodying a transparent face portion and a back portion secured together at their edges, and a reinforce strip extending across the upper edge of the transparent face, said strip being formed with a tab, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A filing card of the character described, consisting of front and back portions, secured together at their edges, a sheet to which the back portion is secured at its middle only and a transversely extending spring member secured to said back and tending to restore the same to a flat condition.

5. A device of the character described, consisting of a sheet and a series of filing pockets on said sheet, each filing pocket embodying a transparent face portion, and a resilient back portion, the face portions of two adjacent pockets overlapping.

G. A device of the character described, consisting of a sheet and a series of filing pockets mounted therein, said filing pockets embodying transparent face portions secured to the sheet, the face portion of two adjacent pockets overlapping at their bottom and top edges, respectively, and the resilient back portion being common to the transparent face portions of both pockets.

7. A device of the character described, consisting of a series of transparent face filing pockets, and a series of leaves in book form to which said pockets are secured, said leaves being provided at one edge with inner and outer binding strips and with corner reinforces and interposed between the inner and outer binding strips, and fastening devices inserted through the binding strips and reinforces.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN A. BEXELL. [n s.] Witnesses J. E. SHEPARD, C. A. McCAUsLANo. 

